December 2021

Belgian Nuns [Centuries later] Join Monks in Beer Production

Maredret Abbey in Belgium is a 20-strong Benedictine community, founded in 1893. The Abbey’s nuns, struggling to scrape together the funds for much-needed renovation work, turned to brewing beer.

The Abbey teamed up with a brewer five years ago, in the hopes of producing beer infused with some of their history and values, in order to fix their leaky roofs and cracked walls.

Abbey beers, where a brewer pays royalties to use the Abbey name, are common in Belgium. But until now only monks have been associated with these brews.

The Belgian nuns, in association with brewer and importer John Martin, launched two beers this summer. Maredret Altus is a 6.8% amber beer using cloves and juniper berries, and Maredret Triplus is an 8% blond incorporating coriander and sage.

“It’s good for one’s health. It aids digestion. All the sisters like the beer, we are in Belgium after all,” said Sister Gertrude. Each nun is permitted to enjoy one bottle of beer every Sunday.

“We wanted a beer made from spelt, for which we have great esteem because of its virtues, as well as medicinal plants, since our aim was to make a beer that could improve the health of people. Our project was about respect for human nature, which consists of not eating and drinking just anything. A herbal beer met our goals of helping people with their health very well” says Sister Gertrude.

Spelt is a grain mentioned in texts by Saint Hildegard, a German Benedictine abbess from the 11th century who has inspired the Belgian order. Plants commonly grown in the nuns’ garden are also used.

Production is close to 300,000 bottles per year, according to head distiller and great-grandson of the brewer’s founder, Edward Martin. He predicts that this will rise to around 3 million in a couple of years. The beer has already launched outside of Belgium in Spain and Italy.

Maredret Abbey is just a kilometre from male counterpart Maredsous Abbey, whose beer, made by Duvel, is widely available.

‘All the sisters like the beer, we are in Belgium after all’, said Sister Gertrude

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Drinks E-commerce to grow exponentially in three years – IWSR Report

The total value of the e-commerce sector in headline markets is expected to grow at an unprecedented rate between 2022-2025, according to IWSR.

Over the next five years e-commerce sales of alcohol across key global markets are predicted to expand by +66% to reach more than US$42 billion, according to a comprehensive strategic study published by IWSR Drinks Market Analysis.

Among the 16 focus markets examined in the IWSR report (Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States), e-commerce value increased by about +12% in 2019, and then by almost +43% in 2020 during the height of the pandemic.

The report states: “Looking ahead to 2025, e-commerce is projected to represent about 6% of all off-trade beverage alcohol volumes, compared to less than 2% in 2018. The greatest forecast e-commerce value growth will come from the US, thanks to average annual growth in the country of about +20%, which will see it become the top global market for online beverage alcohol.”

The newly released IWSR study also found that online business models for alcohol sales are becoming more diverse, leading consumers to increasingly shift between channels and retailers according to their specific needs at any given time.

“In general terms, the online beverage alcohol space can be perceived as two distinct, but overlapping, worlds: more ‘traditional’ e-commerce – often omnichannel or online specialists – accessed via websites and used by older consumers seeking good prices and known brands and who are prepared to wait for delivery; and more ‘modern’ app-driven e-commerce – often on-demand or marketplaces – used by younger legal drinking age consumers willing to pay for rapid delivery and looking for interesting/premium brands,” the report states.

Guy Wolfe, strategic insights manager, IWSR Drinks Market Analysis, commented: “Given the pandemic and overall changing consumer shopping behavior, it’s certainly not surprising that alcohol e-commerce is growing very quickly. But what’s interesting is to see the significant variations that have developed both across and within markets in how different consumer groups shop via e-commerce and what their priorities are.

“E-commerce has clearly become engrained for many consumers, cementing its place as the third sales channel for beverage alcohol purchase,” confirms Wolfe.

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The World’s 50 Best Bars 2021 Are Revealed

The 2021 edition of the World’s Best 50 Bars was announced this week at an awards ceremony in London, UK.

London holds the top two spots while New York has two spots in the top 30.

It’s also a notably more international affair than usual, with 17 countries represented in the top 50, and with 18 new entries spread across Australia, India, Mexico, Russia, Argentina, Sweden, Spain, China and the UAE.

London’s Connaught Bar took the No.1 spot as well as was awarded The Best Bar in Europe title for the second consecutive year.

Under the leadership of Agostino Perrone, Connaught Bar presents artful, modern drinks with graceful service in an elegant setting. Designed by the late David Collins, the Cubist-inspired bar is known for its unique Martini trolley, where bartenders give a highly personalized drinks experience to guests.

Other bars in the top five are London destination Tayēr + Elementary (No.2), rising star Paradiso in Barcelona (No.3), Athens favorite The Clumsies (No.4) and the acclaimed Florería Atlántico in Buenos Aires (No.5). The full list can be viewed list https://bit.ly/W50BB2021

Cocktail lovers add these drinking destinations to your 2022 bucket list!

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Wine and Spirits Auction “Uncorked Holiday Edition” [Les Dames d’Escoffier Ontario and Crafting for a Cure] has Concluded

We want to “Thank You” for your continued, and faithful support towards

Crafting for a Cure in delivering Craft Kits to over 100 hospitals and contributing to Les Dames d’Escoffier’s Ontario Scholarship and Student Bursary Program for 2022.

Auction by the Numbers:

7,035 page views

$10,300+ Monies Raised

287 Bids

@crafting4acureca @lesdamesontario

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Thirteen Masters of Wine inducted at the 2021 IMW awards ceremony this week

The Institute of Masters of Wine officially welcomed thirteen new Masters of Wine to its membership at the IMW’s awards ceremony in London December 1, 2021.

The ceremony celebrates the induction of the new Masters of Wine to the IMW and recognizes individual excellence in all aspects of the MW exam. Currently, there are 418 MWs based in 30 different countries.

The 2020 ceremony was postponed due to the pandemic. Instead, a digital celebration was released last year to honour the achievements of the 23 new members who became Masters of Wine in 2020.

A second awards ceremony in March 2022 will inaugurate the 10-remaining new Masters of Wine from the 2020 vintage, who could not attend the celebration at Vintners’ Hall, London, along with the 2021 vintage MWs.

The ceremony, which took place on December 1st was live-streamed for the first time, and viewers could see video messages from the MWs who were unable to attend.

The new 2020 MWs who attended in person were Mike Best MW (UK), Vanessa Conlin MW (US), Róisín Curley MW (Ireland), Tracey Dobbin MW (France), Christophe Heynen MW (Belgium), Elizabeth Kelly MW (UK), Ido Lewinsohn MW (Israel), Lin Liu MW (France), William Lowe MW (UK), Curtis Mann MW (US), Ray O’Connor MW (UK), Beth Pearce MW (UK) and Adam Porter MW (UK).

The MWs in the 2020 vintage not able to attend were Nick Bielak MW (UK), Beans Boughton MW (UAE), Duane Coates MW (Australia), Jacqueline Cole Blisson MW (Canada), Heidi Iren Hansen MW (Norway), Pasi Ketolainen MW (Finland), Annette Lacey MW (Australia), Geoffrey Moss MW (Canada), Louise Wilson MW (Canada) and Ross Wise MW (Canada).

The 23 MWs passed the final part of the MW exam in 2020 and were announced in February and August last year.

During the ceremony, individual awards were given to the MWs who performed exceptionally in a particular area of the MW exam.

Adam Porter MW received the IMW Chair’s Award, presented by Neil Hadley MW, for the top performance in the business of wine paper. Adam was also awarded the Noval Award, sponsored by Quinta do Noval, part of AXA Millésimes, for the best research paper by a new MW. Adam’s research paper, Can premium wines be marketed in single-serve cans in the UK retail market? is available to download from the IMW’s website here.

Curtis Mann MW received the Taransaud Tonnellerie Award for his excellent knowledge in the production and handling of wine.

Geoffrey Moss MW received the Villa Maria Award for his outstanding knowledge and understanding of viticulture and the Robert Mondavi Winery Award for the best performance across all the theory papers in the MW exam.

For her outstanding tasting ability, Heidi Iren Hansen MW received the Bollinger Medal. Heidi also received the final accolade of the evening, the Austrian Wine Marketing Board Outstanding Achievement Award. The prize was given to Heidi for her overall performance in all areas of the MW exam.

Both Heidi and Geoffrey could not attend the ceremony but shared their delight and thanks via video link. They will be presented with their awards in person at the ceremony in March.

The Masters of Wine who celebrated their 50th year as MWs in 2020 were also honored during the ceremony. Philip Goodband MW, Sarah Morphew Stephen MW and John Salvi MW passed the MW exam in 1970. Special mention was given to Michael Broadbent MW, who sadly died in March 2020 – his 60th year as an MW.